Gjornâl Furlan des SiencisFriulian Journal of Science

No. 23 (2017): GFS
RICERCJIS

Minority languages and behaviour: Slovene and Friulian minorities in Italy

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  • SANDRO SILLANI,
  • ELISA KOSUTA
SANDRO SILLANI
Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences, University of Udine, Italy

Peraulis clâf

  • Minority language, behaviour, consumer, attitude, Slovene, Slovenian, Friulian

Cemût citâ

[1]
SILLANI, S. and KOSUTA, E. 2017. Minority languages and behaviour: Slovene and Friulian minorities in Italy. Gjornâl Furlan des Siencis - Friulian Journal of Science. 23, 23 (Jun. 2017), 89–105.

Ristret

A short review of current literature shows that: 1) people’s behaviour is influenced both by the language they speak, and by the language or languages used by the media; 2) the status of a majority or minority language influences the impact it has on behaviour); 3) the effect of language on behaviour may vary depending on population; 4) different languages may have different effects; 5) there is a dearth of research on the influence of minority languages. The aim of this study is to verify whether the languages spoken by two linguistic minorities in Italy (Slovene and Friulian) influence behaviour to differ from the behaviour of the Italian-speaking linguistic majority. We considered a sample of 1 080 Italian consumers, which we divided into four homogeneous subsamples by gender, age, qualification and per capita income. The only differences were in terms of linguistic minority and spoken language, more specifically: Slovenians who speak Slovene, Friulians who speak Friulian, Friulians who do not speak Friulian, and other Italian individuals who neither belong to a linguistic minority nor speak Slovene or Friulian. We compared the averages for eight antecedents of behaviour: Advertising Involvement (Message Involvement, Media Involvement and Behaviours); Price Consciousness; Environmental Concern; Moral and other-oriented Reasoning; Time Management and Time Pressure. In four of the cases there was an association with minority languages, with significant differences emerging in the following cases: 1) between people speaking a minority language and those belonging to the linguistic majority; 2) between people who belong to a minority and speak the minority language and people of the same minority but who do not not speak the minority language; and 3) between people of different minorities that speak or do not speak the respective languages. The results confirm that behaviour can be influenced by minority languages, even if there appears to be no direct link between behaviour and the language spoken, for example where the link may be environmental or ethical rather than linguistic. Finally, this analysis proves that to define an effective language policy, it is necessary to study how a linguistic minority and a linguistic majority respectively behave towards a minority language, and also the cause-and-effect relations between attitude and behaviour

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